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Critical Mass Energy Project
Michael Grynberg <grynberg@Essential.ORG>

ACTION ALERT -- CALLS NEEDED TO APPROPRIATIONS CONFEREES TO KEEP
NUCLEAR WASTE OFF THE ROAD

Starting Monday, conferees from the House and Senate will meet to
reconcile their differing version of the energy and water
appropriations bill for FY 1996.  There is an excellent chance
that pro-nuclear industry members will attempt to use the
conference to rewrite the Nuclear Waste Policy Act behind closed
doors.  The Senate version of the bill already contains language
to preempt current law and build an unnecessary "interim" storage
facility for the nation's high-level nuclear waste, and the
conferees will probably slip in language to designate the Nevada
Test Site (NTS) as the location of the dump.

If your Senator or Representative is on the conference committee,
call and tell him/her to stick to appropriating funds; selecting
Nevada to bear the burden of the nuclear industry's waste has no
place in an appropriations bill.

-Opening a so-called interim nuclear waste dump in Nevada would
open the door to the largest nuclear waste transportation
enterprise in history.  Over 95 percent of the radioactivity in
the nation's nuclear waste would hit the road and rails of 43
states, exposing millions to unwarranted risk.  Cask safety
standards fail to incorporate the full range of trauma to which a
cask may be exposed in an accident, and regulations do not
require testing of full-scale models to ensure compliance.

-Nevada, which has no nuclear reactors, vigorously opposes the
dump.  If Congress forces the facility upon the state, the
Republican rhetoric of "returning power to the states" will be
exposed as rank hypocrisy.  The only way to place a dump in
Nevada is over the objections of its citizens, state government,
and entire Congressional delegation.

-There is no substantive rationale for moving high-level nuclear
waste to a centralized interim site.  No risk assessment or cost-
benefit analysis has been conducted that justifies the hazards
and expense of such a project.

-Shipping waste to the NTS is premature.  The only conceivable
rationale for an interim facility at NTS is if nearby Yucca
Mountain is used as a permanent repository.  Studies to determine
the suitability of Yucca Mountain are incomplete.  If Yucca
Mountain proves unsuitable, waste shipped all the way to Nevada
might have to be shipped again, thus doubling the risks of
transport.

-Current law forbids the placing of an interim facility in
Nevada, a prohibition designed to ensure the integrity of the
studies at Yucca Mountain.  If Congress wishes to alter current
law, it should do so explicitly and not as part of an
appropriations bill.

-Construction of rail lines to NTS would be an extremely
expensive enterprise, yet both the House and Senate versions of
the energy and water bill slash funding for the high-level waste
program.  Premature shipment to NTS could be a budget buster.

-The question of high-level nuclear waste disposition is a highly
technical and complex issue.  Such a drastic change in the
nation's policy should be the product of carefully planned
legislation that follows extensive public hearings by relevant
committees, not a backroom deal by a committee of appropriators,
whose task is to approve annual spending levels.

The conference will likely only last one week.  Calls are needed
now!  The Capitol Switchboard number is (202)225-3121.

The Senate conferees are:

Domenici (R-NM)
Hatfield (R-OR)
Cochran (R-MS)
Gorton (R-WA)
McConnell (R-KY)
Bennett (R-UT)
Burns (R-MT)
Johnston (D-LA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Hollings (D-SC)
Reid (D-NV)
Kerrey (D-NE)
Murray (D-WA)

The House conferees are:

Livingston (R-LA)
Myers (R-IN)
Rogers (R-KY)
Knollenberg (R-MI)
Riggs (R-CA)
Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)
Bunn (R-OR)
Obey (D-WI)
Bevill (D-AL)
Fazio (D-CA)
Chapman (D-TX)


Michael Grynberg
Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project
215 Pennsylvania Ave., SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
Internet: grynberg@citizen.org